PO loses passport, blames applicant

Signature of the addressee forged on the delivery slip: postman offers agents service

What made matters worse for him was that the postman refused to accept responsibility and tried to put the blame on the resident himself.

Subhash K (name changed), 24, had applied for a passport at the Passport Seva Kendra.

When the passport was despatched to him, he received an SMS informing him on its arrival, along with the tracking number of the post.

As Subhash was out of town at that time, he immediately called up his local post office at Whitefield, explained his situation and asked them not to deliver till he returned. He was assured by the authorities they would hold on to it till he came back.

However, two days later when he contacted them again, he was informed that the passport had been lost. Ganesh, the postman who had tried to deliver the passport, refused to admit he had lost it.

“He asked me to give him a letter stating that he had delivered it to me and I had lost it! Further, he said he had already spoken to an agent who would help me get a fresh passport expeditiously, at his cost.”

Subhash refused to budge and complained to the both the passport office and the post office, but he could not get satisfactory answers. He says Ganesh refused to file an FIR for the missing passport as it would lead to penalty against him. Under the rules of Passport Act of 1967, an FIR must be lodged if a passport is missing or stolen.

Compounding the matter was the contradictory statements by the Whitefield post office.

When Subhash visited the postmaster, he checked the computer records which showed Subhash’s post as having been ‘delivered’.

“Furthermore, the delivery slip had a forged signature in the place where the receiver is supposed to sign on receipt of the mail. Later assistant manager, V Ravichandran who refused to provide a photocopy of the delivery sheet, denied its existence and also that he ever showed me any delivery sheet,” Subhash says.

He finally pursued the matter with the East Division post office. When Deccan Herald contacted the East Division, the person handling the matter seemed surprised at the postal worker’s stance.

“There have been cases in which the post offices have lost the passports. But we have never had a situation where the postman claimed he was not responsible,” she said.

As Subhash pursued the matter relentlessly and the East Division post office asked for a report from Whitefield post office, Ganesh finally admitted that he had lost the passport when he had parked his bicycle on the road.

 As the departmental investigations continued, Subhash received a letter from the post office admitting that they had lost the particular mail. Subhash certainly heaved a sigh of relief, but his ordeal is not over yet.

“I did not mind running around trying to get that letter from the post office, but now I will have to apply for a new passport all over again. I have to undergo a double inconvenience and apply at my own expense for no fault of mine,” Subhash said.